Tea auctioneers form body to safeguard trade interests

S B Shah, chairman of leading tea exporter Shah Brothers, said that tea auction prices is depressed this year due to geo-political tensions. Exports too have come down.However, Indian tea exporters have been able enter new markets like Turkey, Jordan and some CIS countries, he said.

Tea auctioneers from the northern and southern parts of the country Friday said that they have come together to form an umbrella body to safeguard their interests.

The body, christened Association of Tea Auctioneers (ATA) will work also for the smooth functioning of the auctioning system in the country.

About 13 tea auctioneers licensed by the Tea Board, including majors J Thomas, Contemporary Brokers and Parcon formed the ATA.

Its secretary Sujit Patra told reporters here that there was no formal institution so far for the auctioneers to deal with issues collectively for the overall benefit of the trade. The newly-formed body will liaison with the central and governments of states where tea is grown and also with regulatory authorities like the Tea Board.

The erstwhile practice of manual auction of tea has been replaced with electronic auction since 2008-09 and now prevails in both north and south India.

The association arranged a ceremonial manual auction of around 650 lots of Assam orthodox tea totalling 3.60 lakh kg on Friday. S B Shah, chairman of leading tea exporter Shah Brothers, said that tea auction prices is depressed this year due to geo-political tensions. Exports too have come down.

However, Indian tea exporters have been able enter new markets like Turkey, Jordan and some CIS countries, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)